When performing scientific research or material interaction studies, it is often beneficial or necessary to generate a chirped optical pulse. A chirped pulse may be used to record or illuminate an event which occurs during an ultra-short time scale. A chirped pulse is a pulse of energy, such as in the UV, visible, or near-infrared regions of the spectrum, with different wavelengths of the pulse which are dispersed, spread or chirped. However, numerous challenges exist in relation to prior art attempts to generate a chirped pulse.
One prior art approach was using a long single fiber path to create dispersion, but this approach required large spools of fiber optic cable, which are heavy, expensive, space consuming, and very difficult to move. Another proposed solution is chirped fiber Bragg grating but this approach results in modulation on the group delay of CFBGs which leads to deviation of linearity of the dispersion. It is also known to use a rotating mirror/grating assembly, but this approach is slow and as a result does not meet the needs of applications requiring higher speed capabilities.
Therefore, a need exists for an improved system to generate a chirped pulse and in particular a chirped or chirped-like pulse that is selectable in wavelength, spectral width, and temporal width.